I write this
just after I have boiled up over 2kg of redcurrants and then left
them to drain before I turn it into jelly. It's been one of those
types of months at the allotment – the produce is coming thick and
fast and it's now a race against time in order to use it.
Along with
the redcurrants there's been the first crop of potatoes. It's always
exciting to dig below the surface and search for buried treasure. At
first you think there's only one or two potatoes but as you go down
further and expand your search it's surprising just how many potatoes
you end up finding. This variety is Desirée
and they make a good all-rounder. We bought some potato sacks as part
of our seed order so it will make it easier to store them for longer
this year.
When
we grew broad beans last year we also put in the companion plant of
nasturtiums. The reason for this is that broad beans are prone to
blackfly but are lured away by the nasturtiums. We didn't do this
this year but we have seen the difference. The blackfly did attack
our broad beans but we did fight back by spraying them with a mixture
of water and Ecover washing up liquid.
Along
with my choice of a plant-based washing up liquid we were helped by
the blackfly's natural predator – the ladybird. I'm not sure what
variety this ladybird but it was certainly getting its fill of
aphids.
Now we need
to talk courgettes. At the beginning of the season we started a
planting trial with the courgettes after we germinated them on the
window sill. A couple of plants were put in the greenhouse, we left
two at home on the patio in a wooden box and the rest we planted
directly into the soil. The winner? It has to be courgettes directly
in the soil – good job we have an allotment! We currently have so
many that I think I am going to have to start leaving some on the
doorsteps of random strangers!
There's
still plenty of crops to come. Our sweetcorn is looking really strong
at the moment. We planted them in a block to aid fertilisation and
took advantage of the free munch pile to put round the bottom. The
tassels are now showing so hopefully the cobs will come soon.
As we have
now a row freed up after the broad beans were harvested it has now
been filled with our winter crop. Last year we dug some leeks up for
our Christmas dinner and we were still digging them up for weeks
afterwards. When it's freezing outside and it makes a good excuse to
pay a visit to the allotment otherwise you may not see it all for
months. At the moment we can't go enough!
Wow, you've done so well. Your plot is looking so much better than ours. Now the deer are getting in, our heart has gone out of it and all we've got (pretty much) is garlic and potatoes.
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